Mize Elementary wins $50,000 national Pepsi Grant

Earlier this year, Mize uploaded a YouTube video to spice up its pitch for the grant, as teachers, parents and students all lent a hand.

The grant — which was awarded to Mize on Monday, Dec. 19 — will allow Mize to purchase interactive whiteboards for 23 classrooms, laptop computers and interactive classroom response systems.

"It's refreshing to see a community come together to help us purchase technology tools to enhance the learning of our students," Mize principal Lori Bradley said in a news release.

Mize became one of the project's top vote-getters after voting began on Nov. 1. During that time, Mize was also in the running for another $50,000 grant, by way of the Clorox Power A Bright Future contest. Mize started out strong, hanging around the contest's top five schools. Now it must wait until the contest's five winners are announced in January.